Blogs from Cherbourg, Lower Normandy, France, Europe
August 2nd 2010
Cherbourg is a pleasant and bustling town. After tidying the boat, having lunch, chilling for a bit, recovering our nerve and showering - it was early evening. We went for a walk to exchange our money and explore. Unfortunately the bureau de change was closed so we decided to withdraw some Euros for our dinner and swallow the fee! With the cash nestled snugly in our pockets we took a walk around the old Norman town and marvelled at the cute little buildings in cobbled streets - particularly at a cute little green and pink gabled ‘salon du the’ which Mike described as a ‘Hansel and Gretel House’. Feeling a little thirsty and keen to sample some beer al fresco we continued wandering in search of a nice place for an early evening beer. Not far ... read more
March 12th 2010
Friday 12.3.2010 day 150 Ferry to Ireland We drove to Normandie past the d-day beachers which were very pretty we read in the French news paper that they are still fining unexploded bombs from d-day and had found one on the 14 of Feb a few weeks before we where there where they evacuated 20,000 people from their homes and they do not expect to find all the d-day bombs until 2020. We got the 10 pm Celtic link Ferry to Ireland. We got a cabin for the 16h over night trip but there were lots of people who slept out on the chairs. ... read more
Part 3 - Where I Went and Distances
Published: August 8th 2009Europe » France » Lower Normandy » Cherbourg
August 8th 2009
Day 1: Wotton-under-Edge to Salisbury - 120km Day 2: Salisbury to Holton Heath - 65km Day 3: Holton Heath to Langton Matravers - 56km Day 4: Rest Day Day 5: Rest Day Day 6: Langton Matravers to Portsmouth - 130km Day 7: Le Harve to Auberville - 96km Day 8: Auberville to Thury Harcourt - 100km Day 9: Thury Harcourt to Pont-d'Ouilly - 25km Day 10: Pont-d'Ouilly to St Hillaire du Harcourt - 80km Day 11: St Hillaire du Harcourt to Chateaugiron - 92km Day 12: Chateaugiron to Paimpont - 65km Day 13: Rest Day Day 14: Paimpont to Carnac - 122km Day 15: Carnac to Rosporden - ... read more
August 5th 2009
After 8 days of breaking camp and moving on, although I didn't always do lots of miles, I treated myself to a day off in Paimpont. It's a small town in the middle of the Paimpont Forest which is associated with Arthurian legend. Lots of places to visit, such as Merlin's Tomb but my tired legs only made it as far as the local bar which was showing Le Tour all afternoon. At last, a French bar with Le Tour on instead of horse racing. Yep, amazingly gambling on the horses seems more important in most places that the biggest big race in the world. Unfortunately my lack of planning ahead meant I had to do 25km on my rest day in search of fuel for my stove and some extra food. I found the food ... read more
June 24th 2009
Avant de pouvoir partir dans une contrée inconnue, il nous paraissait indispensable de passer par l'angle mort français, afin de s'adapter à l'absence totale de civilisation. Nous y avons donc retrouvé notre ami Etienne - pilote de rally... et de Massey fergusson - sillonnant les routes étroites à notre recherche. Nous avons ainsi pu compléter l'équipe et reprendre des forces en nous reposant au fin fond de la Mayenne, une nuit avant de partir. Mais le départ est proche : nous partons prendre l'avion dans 3h. Plus rien de nous fait peur, nous sommes prêt. Au revoir France, le Canada nous attend. ... read more
South into Belgium and into France
Published: September 11th 2007Europe » France » Lower Normandy » Cherbourg
September 11th 2007
Ypres or Ieper We had an interesting time looking at the First World War artifacts and information which abounds in Ieper. There is a great and good museum there in the impressive Cloth Hall rebuilt after the desolation in the war. And we then headed down to Vimy Ridge which we knew of from the Somme visit earlier in the summer. It is very impressive. The Canadians have left the battlefield as it was left after the war and opened up the tunnels built into the chalk. It was a great victory for the allies and the Canadians led the charge. Normandy and Home But we had to move on to take our place in the St Lo 40th anniversary cycle rally. We had a great time and enjoyed superb French hospitality. We camped on ... read more
June 11th 2007
Today was my third day in France and looking out of the tent, the weather was a heavy, damp mist which looked like it was going to get worse as the day went on. Wet weather gear was put on and off I went on the road to Cherbourg. The journey was nearly 100-kms so with the weather threatening to get worse I headed up to the motorway to get the journey over with fast. I stopped at a road end that fed the motorway. Cars passing the end of the road seemed to slow down. I joined the road to head to the motorway and as I caught other cars up they too seemed to pull over to the right and slow down so I could pass them, I found this very courteous but ... read more
packing, travelling, and arriving
Published: May 22nd 2007Europe » France » Lower Normandy » Cherbourg
May 22nd 2007
Well as most of you know I have a problem with clothing, as in I have too much, so packing was rather difficult. Finally, after many purges, I managed to pack two overly stuffed bags and one carry on. I still don't think I packed enough, but Jerome thinks it's too much and perhaps he is right...he was nice enough to help carry it with me. So I left at 1:30pm from the Nashville airport and flew to Chicago where I had a two hour lay over. Then I boarded the plane to La France! The flight was awful because I developed bronchitis somewhere between Nashville and Chicago so I suffered the whole flight and could barely breathe. Luckily some good samaritans offered me some various medications to aid in my tribulation. So I arrived ... read more
What have we got ourselves in for???
Published: September 25th 2006Europe » France » Lower Normandy » Cherbourg
September 11th 2006
Okay, after only a little sleep for Kate, we packed up the hotel, and made our way to the campervan place. Mum and dad got the laydown of what to do with the van, and I got the job of finding out how and where we actually had to go to meet Alana, Jules and his dad. Mum had made me chief navigator, as mum was a little nervous after a bad experience driving in Italy - she needed a rest and her nails did as well. After packing the van with our goods, loaded up with only a buddha bar CD and some crazy french music Mum had insisted on buying (I am sure it will suit some people - just not me really) we made our way out of Paris - first hurdle - ... read more
